BEIJING, March 18 -- Billionaire Yuan Baojing and two
other men were executed Friday in Liaoning Province in the contract killing of a
man who threatened to expose Yuan's attempt to murder a businessman.

Yuan Baojing (C) appears at the court in Liaoning Province March 17. (Chinacourt.org)

A fourth criminal, Yuan Baofu, was sentenced to
death, but the sentence was suspended for two years. That means the death
sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment if he is a model inmate over two
years.

The murder victim, Wang Xing, had helped the
billionaire in the attempted murder of a businessman in southwestern China's
Sichuan Province.

Yuan Baojing, a Liaoyang native, registered his
Beijing Jianhao Industrial Development Company in Beijing's Huairou District in
1992, the Supreme People's Court reported.

Six months later, he made more than 2 million yuan
(US$249,007) of profits. Then he invested in the securities and bonds markets
before acquiring more than 60 companies. His assets were valued at more than 3
billion yuan as of 1996, the supreme court said.

He believed businessman friend Liu Han's manipulation
of a broker caused him to lose nearly 100 million yuan in Sichuan Province, he
told Yuan Baoqi and Wang at a Beijing hotel in late 1996.

Yuan Baofu and Yuan Baosen waited for Wang near
midnight on October 4, 2003, when he left a majhong games shop in Lioayang. As
Wang opened the gate to his apartment building, they shot him twice with a
hunting rifle.